Wool-washing machine



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No. 468,453. Patented Feb. 9, 1892.

"aims PEYiRS col, mwauruo wAsumm-ou n c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK G. SARGENT AND ALLAN C. SARGENT, OF GRANITEVILLE,MASSACHUSETTS.

WOOL-WASHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 468,453, dated February9, 1892.

Application filed December 4, 1890. Serial No. 373,532. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FREDERICK G. SAR- GENT and ALLAN O. SARGENT, ofGraniteville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts,have invented a new and useful Improvement in 'Wool-lVashing Machines,of which the following is a specification.

Our improvement relates to machines for washing wool and other fibroussubstances; and it consists in certain new and useful constructions andcombinations of certain parts thereof, substantially as hereinafterdescribed and clained. In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of awool-washing machine containing ourinvention. Fig. 2 is a verticallongitudinal elevation of the same with one of the sides removed.

A is the bowl of the machine, which is constructed in the ordinary formwith feet to support it on the door and is provided with a perforatedfalse bottom a and an escapepassage in the bottom closed by the valve onfor cleaning out the dirt in the usual way.

a is the carrier-bed, and O is the carrier, which is moved up and downthe carrier-bed and lifted by the pitinan rod 0 from the crank 0 Thesqueeze-rolls 1t 1% are placed at the feed-out end of the bowl and thelower one is set in a trough D, formed by the curved-up bottom a of thebowl and the partition a which extends transversely across the bowl toits top, which is above the upper end of the curved bottom a of the bowland corresponds in height with that of the bowl at its feed-in end. Thecarrier-bed is connected with the squeeze-rolls by the intermediaterollers 1 2, which incline downward toward the nip of the squeeze-rollsfrom the upper end of the carrier-bed and revolve in the direction ofthe arrows, so that while the fiber is allowed to drain off into thetrough D the movement of the rolls will transfer the fiber to the nip ofthe squeeze-rolls.

It will be readily seen that the water-level in the trough D, which isindicated by dotted line y y, is below the Water-level in the main partof the bowl A, which is indicated by the dotted line mm. In order tocontinually clean out the trough D, we provide the pump P,

which has an outlet-opening 3 from troughD and is connected by the pipeE c with the receptacle c at the feed-in end of the bowl, the receptaclee discharging into the bowl at the water-level through the mouth 6?. Avalve e in the pipe E shuts it off, so as to discharge its contents intothe receptacle c.

Next beyond the feed-in end of the bowl is located across the top thetransverse pipe e having a series of nozzles or spouts c and the pipe ais connected to the pipe E by a branch pipe, as shown by dotted lines inFig.

2. The capacity of the pump and pipe E is,

greater than that of the mouth-piece c and hence the washing-fluid willbe discharged from the nozzles e", as well as the mouthpiece.

Next beyond the nozzles c is located the shield d, which inclinesdownward on its feedin side from above the water-level toward the falsebottom of the bowl and then inclines upward above the water-level on itsfeed-out side, leaving a space between it and the false bottom, underwhich the fiber will be forced by the streams ejected from the nozzles 6The cylinder Z) next carries the wool forward, being provided with armsI) b, which strike the wool as it rises under the shield d and advanceit forward to the carrier. The circulation of fluid caused by the pumptherefore carries the wool forward from the feed-in end of the machineto the carrier by the aid of the cylinder 1). The carrier-bed a isperforated, and in order to supply the trough D with the additionalfluid besides that drained from the wool an opening 4: is made throughthe partition a", which is provided with a valve 5, that has a piston G,passing through a stuifing-box 7 in the bottom of the bowl and providedat its lower end with a handle 8, by which the valve 5 may be slid upand down over the opening 4 to regulate the amount of fluid that shallpass from the main part of the bowl into trough D to keep the pumpsupplied With the necessary amount of fluid above what drains downbetween the rolls 1 and 2. The valve 5 is held in place by bars 9, projeoting from the sides of the machine,between which and the partition athe ends of the valve slide up and down. If the drainage from betweenthe rolls 1 and 2 is sufficient to furnish the pump, the valve 5 will beentirely closed. If not, it will be opened a suflicient amount to keepthe water-level in trough D up to the highest point allowed by thecurved bottom (L The water-level in the main part of the bowl will standabove thatin the trough D, because the pump will keep all surplus waterfrom overflowing the curved bottom a, since it continually carries thewater out of the trough, so as to prevent its overflowing. The advantageof maintaining the fluid in the trough D at a lower point than thefluid-level in the main part of the bowl is that the squeeze-rolls R Rcan be dropped down lower with relation to the upper end of thecarrierbed without increasing the distance to which the upper end of thecarrier-bed is extended above the water-level of the main part of thebowl. The wool is therefore carried more easily up the incline of thecarrier-bed above the fluid level of the bowl, as this is made shorter,and after leaving the carrier-bed is assisted in reaching thesqueeze-rolls by the downward inclination of rolls 1 and 2, and isallowed to drain when passing over these rolls instead of when passingover a greater extension of the carrier-bed above into trough D, certainsmall fibers pass down into it with the fluid which drains off, andthese, as well as the fiber washed from the surface of the lowersqueeze-roll, are at once carried out of the trough by the powerfulsuction of the pump and delivered again into the bowl through themouth-piece e at its feed-in end. This prevents the trough D from beingclogged up by the fibers of wool settling in it, as has heretofore beenthe case. The higher water-level 0c :20 of the main part of the bowlalso causes a constant current to move from the. feed-in end through theperforated carrier-bed a and the opening 4 in partition a and depositsthe fiber on the carrier-bed in proper position for the carrier to takeit and transport it up the latter.

The difficulty in the use of intermediate rolls like 1 2 fortransferring the wool from the carrier-bed to the squeeze-rolls hasalways been that their upper surfaces were obliged to be placed on alinepitching downward from the carrier-bed to the hip of the squeeze-rolls,in order to keep them from slipping under wet and greasy wool, and itsbeing piled upon them without passing through the squeezerolls. WVhenthe upper peripheries of the intermediate rolls were thus pitcheddownward sufficiently to prevent the slipping, this brought thedrainage-trough D, in which the lower squeeze-roll is located andrevolves to cleanse itself, so far below the upper end of thecarrier-bed that attempts to connect this drainage and cleansing troughdirectly with the bowl created a new difficulty. This difficulty wasowing to the fact that the drainagetrough could not well extend,practically, above the axis of the lower squeeze-roll and deliver thewool automatically over that edge, and therefore the level of thewashing-fluid in the bowl could not extend above this line, since thebowl and trough were freely connected by a pipe or passage, andtherefore, again, this compelled the extension of a large part of theupper end of the carrier-bed above this fixed fluid-level in the bowl toget above the uppermost intermediate roller 2. By so much of thecarrierrbed above the fluid-level of the bowl the fiber not only wasdrained off on that part of it, but also thereby was rolled over andfelted by the carrier in being transported up the bed and delivered overits upper end, which is the important thing to be avoided. We obviatethis difficulty by keepin g the fluid-level of the bowl against thecarrier-bed higher, so that the wool shall not felt when being carriedup thebed beneath the fluid and for a short distance above thefluid-surface, not having time to drain off,while at the same time weallow the fiber to drain off between the transferring-rolls land 2 andto pass easily down their inclined upper surfaces to the nip of thesqueeze-rolls. This drainedoft fluid serves to cleanse the lowersqueezeroll by falling into its trough at a lower level than it had inthe bowl, which two levels are kept in that relation by the constantaction of the pump. WVe are thus enabled to drain off the woolsuificiently to have it enter the nip of the squeeze-rolls to the bestadvantage without subjecting it to handling, which will felt it after ithas drained off while being transferred from the bowl to thesqueeze-rolls.

What we claim as new and of our invention 1. The combination of the bowlA, the trough D, with its upper edge located below that of the bowl,whereby the water-level in the main part of the bowl may be kept abovethat of the trough, the carrier-bed a and carrier 0, arranged to carrythe fiber up the carrier-bed, the squeeze-rolls R R, having the lowerone located partly in the trough D, the intermediate rolls 1 2, arrangedwith their upper peripheries on a line inclining downward from thecarrier-bed to the nip of the squeeze-rolls, over which to transport thefiber from the carrier-bed to the squeeze-rolls and allow it to drainoff between them, and the pump Pand pipes E 6, leading from the trough Dto the feed-in end of the bowl and arranged to keep the water-level ofthe main part of the bowl above that of the trough D, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination of the bowl A, the trough D, with its upper edgelocated below that of the bowLwhereby the water-level in the main partof the bowl may be kept above that of the trough, the carrier-bed a andcarrier 0,

feed-in end of the bowl and arranged to keep 10 the water-level of themain part of the bowl above that of the trough D, substantially asdescribed.

FREDERICK G. SARGENT. ALLAN (3. SARGENT. Witnesses:

ARTHUR B. ILIMPTON, W. A. HARRIS.

